Lord of the Video

MONKEY UPDATE!

ITEM! THE MARKET FALLS AS THE ACID RISES!
I've been off Prilosec for a week now, give or take a bit. I feel like someone's been dancing on the tip of my sternum. It is unpleasant. I'll be going back on it soon, but I ran out and need to get to Wal-Mart. Yay. One of the many things we'll be picking up when we finally breakdown and go. I hate giving them money. So very much.

ITEM! COMICS KEEP ROLLING!
Every day has been a new test for continuing the comic I've got going on above. I draw one every weekday, which means that even though it posts thrice a week, I'm actually drawing two extra. If I count right, that means that I've got enough to finish the month. Of course, that's just a guess. I'd have to "look" to know for sure. The thing is, every day, as I sit down to draw the comic, I wonder, "What the heck can I actually do more?" I can already tell that some are not as successful as others, but I'm enjoying testing the boundaries of a comic that has such odd rules for storytelling. I do not use words for dialogue. I do not use people. I use background sparingly. But, anything else goes. So long as it can happen to a blob creature.

ITEM! MYTHIC PROPORTIONS AND SUCH!
I finished writing a myth today. It was a short, simple one, but it's kind of the basis for the world in the idea that was once the comic I was thinking about doing some time back. Woohoo for useless progress!

ITEM! HEROES STILL ROCKS!
It does. Really.

Powerless

synchronicity

Main Entry:
syn·chro·nic·i·ty
Pronunciation:
\ˌsiŋ-krə-ˈni-sə-tē, ˌsin-\
Function:
noun
Inflected Form(s):
plural syn·chro·nic·i·ties
Date:
circa 1889

1 : the quality or fact of being synchronous 2 : the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events (as similar thoughts in widely separated persons or a mental image of an unexpected event before it happens) that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality —used especially in the psychology of C. G. Jung

It's funny. Well, really it's irritating to the point that I just want to punch someone, but that would be funny. Not for me, because I'd probably get beaten up, but funny for someone.

Anyway, having chased that rabbit, let's get back to the blog at hand.

So, the Heroes Volume 2 finale, titles "Powerless" was on last night. I know this in an academic sense. There is evidence it happened. I can cite sources and, were I inclined, give a close approximation of the plot. I cannot, however, give a first-hand account. Last night was the second night I stayed at my parents' because the power company was supposed to switch off the power to my house and connect some new stuff so that the old crappy stuff can go away.
I say "supposed to" because they didn't. Actually, today, the chances of it happening were, in their minds, slim. That was just information I didn't have. What they did today was send a woman with a spyglass-like measuring tool and a stake to mark where a new pole will go.

In two weeks.



Or whenever they get to it.

Beyond that, there's still no word on exactly how soon the new wire will be coming in along with all the switching off and on of power. April, I'm thinking. And what really bothers me is that there's nothing I can do but yell at people who 1) have no control over the situation and 2) aren't responsible for the mess, anyway.

Well, that, and I can watch Heroes....finally...

My Name is SYLAR!!!

So, Halloween...yeah.

Last night, our church did a thing and, since I teach a class that was supposed to be running a booth, we went (it's not like Aaron was old enough to get candy, though, so otherwise, we might not have done much). I suppose, really, I should've been more involved in the booth, but I got caught up in doing Aaron things. Mostly, that just involved carrying him in his spider costume. As cute as he was in it, that thing made it difficult to hold him. And since he was in no mood to be in his stroller, there weren't any other options. He doesn't walk well enough yet (or at least...not far enough) to go around on foot. Originally, Andria and I weren't planning on dressing up either. However, her boss (who I'm pretty sure didn't even show up) convinced her to do something, so she went as a pageant queen. Simple enough, since she had her crown and sash packed from when she was, in fact, a pageant queen. I, on the other hand, had no plans at all, but Andria thought I needed to, so I complied. BUT, I didn't have anything to wear. So, she went to Wal-Mart while I was at work and browsed their remnants. Not much to speak of, but eventually she called with a choice between two capes.

Neither was affiliated with superhero.

So, I decided to do with what I already owned. So, I decided to do something simpler. I'll post a picture later (it's on the camera, but not on a computer), but I went as Sylar. But not just any Sylar. I went SPECIFICALLY as Sylar between episodes 3 and 9 of the first season of Heroes.

The specificity comes because, first, I don't look THAT much like Zachary Quinto. Plus, my hair...too long to spike. So, incognito Sylar it is!

Andria objected because mostly I just looked like nobody. Or a stalker. I did get one "serial killer" which was close enough for me. The one person that would've surely recognized me, my cousin Nathan, was not there, so...I guess I lose.

Like I said before, I'll post some costume pictures later. Happy Dia de los Muertos.

Things Impermanent

I've been watching Reaper. That is, I've watched the two episodes that have been on. I don't see it lasting, though I really have to way of gauging how long things like this would have to live on a lesser network like the CW. That's not to say I'm not enjoying the show. I think it's funny enough. I like the concept. Even the Devil is a likable enough character. The problem is, I can still see this scenario taking place.

It's the day Reaper comes on. Tuesday, I suppose. I don't know. It shows up on the DVR. Anyway, just before it airs, the power goes out and doesn't come back on until after the show ends. Elsewhere, I'm...I dunno, shopping at Wal-Mart (that seems to be the thing I'm usually doing when I'm not at home). There, the power flickers, momentarily, but comes right back on. Later, I get home and notice the power has been off for some amount of time because the microwave needs to be reset. Again (I swear, that thing needs to be reset if a stiff breeze comes along). Anyway, I get everything back to normal and plop down for some tv. And I have no idea I missed the show.

That's what makes me think it won't be around for long. I get invested in things pretty easily, but, even though I like it, I don't feel invested in it. If it went away, I don't know I would notice. Not for a while, anyway.

And it doesn't help that they've made their episode format so obvious. Every episode, towards the end, the Devil will take Sam someplace. While there, someone will die. Every episode, Ben will be injured by the bad guy. There are some other things that slip my mind. Probably something about Sock and his ex trading insults while she offers Sam some kind of information. Oh, at the end of the episode there will be some longing looks shared between Sam and Andi and the Devil will have something to do in that scene.

That's one part that bothers me most. The relationship between Sam and Andi is like Jim and Pam (The Office...duh), except Andi isn't engaged to anyone. Or even dating, from what we've seen. The only thing keeping them apart is that they're both too stupid to ask each other out. Grr. Needless. It's tension for tension's sake!

Get Out of My Head!

Some people just don't take kindly to telepaths...

Of course, I'm referring to last night's episode of Heroes. I'm really enjoying the new season. I was a little disappointed by how short last night's episode seemed (I was spoiled by the longer premiere, I suppose), but if I'm so into it that I didn't expect it to end already that must be a good thing.

I am, in no small way, intrigued by the new big bad guy of the season. Mostly because I don't have any idea who it could be. A character we haven't been introduced to yet? Possibly. Based on some spoilers I read on line (which are hardly 100% reliable, but pointed at least to things), I had a theory on who it was (a new character, but one we met before he offed Nakamura). That theory, based on some things from the newest episode, lies splattered on the pavement beside Kaito.

In other news, I inadvertently sent an email about chapel to the chaplain instead of to my mother. Fortunately, it makes absolutely no sense at all out of context. Anyway, I wasn't (even in context) saying something bad about it, just that I was surprised by what wasn't happening. Long story.

Don't Forget to Set Your Alarm!

This is a friendly reminder for Chaos J. Cricket.

HEROES IS ON TONIGHT! DON'T FALL ASLEEP!!!!

Ok. So I've watched the Heroes premiere no less than thrice in the past week and, this morning, I watched The Office premiere for the second time. I feel good about all that. I'd probably feel better about The Office if I hadn't slept through my alarm for half an hour, causing me to watch the show into my "get ready for work time" (the "feed Aaron time" and "watch tv time" in the morning are one and the same...if I'm late to one, I'm late to the other). Still, funny episode. I'm glad I'm into that show.

I'm hoping that today will pick up. So far, it's been pretty crappy. Locked myself out of the house and had to wake up Andria by yelling through the window. Hopefully she was able to get back to sleep, but that doesn't usually happen when I yell through the window. At least, it didn't the one other time I did.

I'm working on a comic. Not an ongoing series like Vapor Lock, but something that I'll probably do a couple one-offs for. The working title is "My Friend Sylar", so I'm sure you can guess what it's going to relate to. It'll have little to do with the source material, except for characters, but I thought of a couple things that should make it fun for a couple comics. The thing is, a couple characters, the title character for one, are pretty much one-joke characters. So, it could be the next Garfield.

Also, today is my brother's birthday. If you happen to see him, unlikely, wish him a happy one.

Human Sacrifice, Dogs and Cats Living Together...

...Mass hysteria!

So, apparently the planets have aligned, for this week carries many of the greatest of all geekly events ON TOP OF EACH OTHER! I refer to, among others, the first episodes of Heroes Season 2, The Office Season 4, and the debut of Halo 3. I don't even own an X-Box (much less a 360) and I'm excited about that!

...Actually, I don't even KNOW someone with a 360!

Then, there are the new shows. To be honest, my Heroes-inspired insanity has kept me from being all that aware of them, but Chuck (the tv show) looks especially promising. Reaper also looks like it has potential, but that's one I'm especially wary of. Some shows sound good on paper and then crap out in execution. Not to mention celebrity directors make me nervous. Especially on first episodes. I can stomach them during sweeps, but the first episode? Ride your own wave, man!

Not to mention, Cricket is suddenly doing comics again! Astounding!

Still, it almost doesn't seem fair that EVERYONE gets to see Heroes start tonight. ...er...Everyone in the US, anyway. Le Cricket, for instance has only been watching Heroes for, what? Two weeks? I've also heard unconfirmed rumors that tonight's episode may also be on the DVD set, though I couldn't say for sure. Being broke, and all. It's bad enough that he didn't have to sit through the month and a half long breaks between episodes, but now, he doesn't even have to wait through the summer off-season!

GRAVE INJUSTICE!

In the name of fairness, I demand that he ONLY watch Heroes on DVD. Thus, he will have to wait until early next September!

As the Refreshments once sang, that seems fair...

Insanity Doodle!

I blame sleep deprivation.



There have been things lately that I've wanted to rant about, but I haven't been able to focus much lately. Also, I fell asleep in my supervisor's office yesterday. I am particularly psyched to see all the new episodes of my favorite shows next week. The summer season was good to me; I thoroughly enjoyed Psych and Eureka, started getting hooked on the likely dead The 4400, and even took interest in Kyle XY, which is a little too teen soap opera-y for my tastes, but the conspiracy stuff was a good stopgap for the time. It's nice that there are two more episodes of Eureka left to help me transition into the new season of all the shows I've been dying to see (Heroes and The Office, especially), though the transition was something I really could've used a couple months ago between the end of the regular season and the beginning of the new one. Then again, I'd never seen Psych until this summer, so it was new to me until they started the actual new stuff. I'm trying not to pee myself when I think about the new Heroes season, especially. I can't help but think I'm going to be let down, though. Last season, I was sure it was going to stink, so I didn't REALLY start watching until the fourth episode, though I saw most of all of them. It's just that it was episode 3 before I decided I'd start caring about it (can't be too careful with TV, you know). This season, I KNOW it was already good, so now they have to live up to that. Then again, the Kensei "documentary" on the Yagamoto Fellowship site has been cool. John Rhys-Davies is narrating it. After the "what we did this summer" commercial for The Office, I'm pretty excited about that, too. It, along with a slew of Heroes stuff, is available on YouTube.

Search it for your own dang self, you lazy bum.

*Gasp* Chuck! CHUCK!!!!

HOLY CRAP! Third character over (you'll have to click the portrait to get the character's name)! Mayday! Mayday!

That Doesn't Work!

Item #1: The dog likes cat food and the cat likes dog food.

To be honest, I understand where the dog is coming from. The cat's food is like the forbidden fruit, except that I give her some every time I feed the cat, so, of course, she's going to go crazy for it. The cat, on the other hand, doesn't make sense. She eats the dog food just because. Well, I suppose, it could be out of spite. She does hate...everything with a fiery passion, but without her claws while being saddled with the inborn need to remain immobile as often as possible common in cats, even the effort it takes to eat the dog's food seems a bit much for her.

Item #2: That's TV for you...

I was watching an episode of The Dead Zone this morning as I gave Aaron his early morning bottle, the bottle I get up at 6am for, and I noticed in the conclusion that there was an oddity. Apparently, wherever the show is set (I've only seen a handful of episodes and never the old movie), vandalism and terroristic threatening are NOT offenses which can land you in jail. The basic story for this episode, for those of you who don't watch it, was that Johnny the psychic guy's son, JJ (who does not recognize him as "Dad" but as a genetic donor), was skipping soccer to stalk an acrobat girl at the local circus (let's forget for a second that this town doesn't look like it could sustain a continuous circus, yet the owner talked like it had been there a while...but it was early and I may've misunderstood). So Johnny goes to see what's up and ends up meeting an old friend who, in the time since they knew each other, killed a girl. Another man, who had gone to jail for the murder, was back and kept shattering mirrors and doing things to spook the real murderer into confessing. This brings us back to the end where, after the vandal was captured, the real murderer confesses and is arrested. Just before his capture, vandalman had messed with the rigging on a swing knowing that as soon as murderman's weight was on it, it would snap, falling all of a couple feet, since it wouldn't hold him long enough for the swing to be raised by the pulley. Well, since murderman was in jail, the acrobat girl and went to show off in front of JJ who, thanks to Johnny, had ceased his stalking and tried talking to the girl. Well, the rigging starts snapping and vandalguy was trying to fix it and then trying to hold the cable with his bare hands and does so long enough for Johnny to lend half a second's help before the girl falls and lands on JJ. All this to say, vandalguy should've been back in the pokey and the girl should've ended up dead. Thankfully, laws mean nothing on TV.

Item #3: Feh, coworkers.

I work with this unbearable woman...well, no...that's not entirely true. She works here. I work here. But, we don't work at the same time. Usually. Anyway, she somehow tricked some higher ups into having her come in during the summer (she's usually off) a couple days a week, this month and next. Tuesday was supposed to be the first, so, of course, she called in sick. Apparently, she just needed to have more days she could not come to work on, since there are only so many days during the rest of the year. So much truancy, so little time.

Item #4: Auto-NO-bile

My vacation plans changed, rather suddenly, last week. Originally, Andria and I were going to use my one week (I used the other one I'm allotted last year with its 2 weeks) to...well, I'm not actually sure. But, we weren't going anywhere far or for all of the time. Just enough to enjoy our 3rd Anniversary. Now, we're going to Vegas (baby! VEGAS!!!! ) . Unfortunately, that means getting the car checked and then repaired, because it can never NOT need repairs. So, I'm staring down the barrel of $300+ bill and I know it's got another $150 in tires still in the cartridge.

Heroes Finale Short - Spoily

Upon second viewing, the finale was excellent. The music as Petey preps to go boom, called poignant by the captions, started out a bit sappy, but once the rest of the Heroes music effects joined in, it was better. I can't wait until next season. Good stuff, man. Good stuff.

I Need a Hero...

***Spoilers for those of you too lazy to watch tv when it's on...

Well, Heroes, Volume One, is over. Good episode. Not sure if I'm satisfied, but I'm going to watch it again in the morning while I'm feeding Aaron, so I'll be sure to have a more full feeling tomorrow. Of corse, I think I'd be happier if there'd been more spectacular use of powers, like the 5 Years Gone fight between Peter and Sylar that we didn't get to see, but, then, Peter is hardly capable of that kind of control, still.

Obviously.

It seems pretty safe to write-off Nathan as far as returning characters go. I mean, sure, you have to respect the old comic law that states that if you don't see a corpse, then it's still up in the air (of course, even then it isn't set in stone). It was nice that he finally made a good choice. He had such potential and yet he was always such a...there has to be a non-expletive laden expression for him, but words fail me.

I was glad to see that Ando survived. Especially later in the season, he became a very likable character. Hopefully, he'll be back once Hiro is back.

You know what I mean.

I thought the manhole cover bit at the end of Volume One, before Two kicked off, was a nice touch. Very comic book. Plus, Sylar has really grown on me. I wonder how long until he resurfaces...

Several of the other characters, some of whom are kind of up in the air as far as their survival goes, I'd like to see back. Partially, because I'm not sure what their purpose was. I mean, D.L., for instance. I'd also like to see Parkman be more useful, which can only happen if he continues to breathe. Niki...feh. Micah...I think it'd be hard to find ways to use him...especially with him being a kid.

It occurs to me that in the press releases, we were promised things that I don't remember seeing. New characters for next season, for one. I guess I'll be looking for that in the morning.

I really hope they keep Tim Sale on for artwork. I was always kind of lukewarm about his art in comics, though I did like the Batman books he did with Jeph Loeb. But his work on Heroes lends it some credibility. This isn't to put down Alex Maleev, the guy responsible for Sylar's whacked out stuff. I just don't dig his style as much. Still, his version of "Nathan" as President was pretty wicked.

Was Mohinder's only real purpose to save Molly so that they could find Sylar who would've shown his face there at the plaza anyway? I mean, that and leading Sylar to the mechanic with super hearing...

I forgot to mention my favorite moment from last week, an episode that I thought was thoroughly cool upon first viewing (maybe because Greg Beeman directed it....I liked his stuff in Smallville, too) was when Bennett took out Thompson.

So very cold.

Well, I'd go on, but Aaron is sleeping on my forearm and its really hard to type this way...

Numb

I think Sarah Ellerton, artist and author of Inverloch (see the links on this blog), just went for a "holy crap!" moment.

Inverloch, for those of you who don't follow it, has chronicled the adventures of a da'kor (think dog with horns) named Acheron and the group of misfits he's accumulated since embarking on his journey to find an elf, Kayndar, who was kidnapped years ago by a dark mage. I may be reading too much into it, but I think she just revealed something rather important to our understanding of what's actually been happening (and why) in the last two updates.

I'd suggest you read it. Probably all of it, since if you haven't it won't make any sense at all.

Unfortunately, tonight is the Heroes finale, so all of my Keanu-like "Whoa"s are in storage and will not be released until 8pm, central standard time.

Eclipsed

So, tonight is the season finale of The Office. I really like that show. It's one of the few things on TV that I purposefully watch. There are other things, of course, that I watch just because they're on, but I watch The Office because I want to watch it. It's really sad for me that the season is ending tonight.

And that's for reasons totally unrelated to The Office.

You see, I've been all about Heroes lately. It's got all my favorite things!

• Super heroes...........check.
• Crazy action.............check.
• Conspiracy................check.
• Comic books..............check.
• Cinnamon-sugar pretzels from Auntie Anne's..................Well, ok, you can't have everything.

So, in all the excitement about the Heroes, I've not really been enjoying the lead-up to tonight's episode of The Office. That's not to say that I haven't enjoyed the show. It's just that...well, I'm just more excited about Heroes, which is funny, because I didn't see the first episode and just almost didn't watch any of the others because I was sure it was gonna suck. Proving, once again, that I really have no idea what I'm talking about most of the time.

Heroes Sketches

As promised, or at least, as suggested, here are a couple of Heroes sketches. The first is Peter, which I finished (as sketches go) last night after the show. The second is a more finished version of the Sylar sketch I could've sworn I posted back in November when I drew it, but I can't seem to find now. However, you should note how close I was to calling the death of the "super-hearing" lady. Just got the wrong gender....

By the way, the show rocked SO hard last night...





Might do some more sometime soon...(and finish the Sylar one)

Ready to Save the World

Well, it's Thursday, so that means it's time for me to reiterate my love for Heroes!

What? Well, of course I know it was on Monday! Yes, I watched it then! Tuesday was no good for me, that's why! Wednesday? I had no power Wednesday!

Anyway, it was a good thing the power went out on Tuesday and not Monday just before Heroes, because I surely would've thrown a fit. A fit in the dark, but a fit nonetheless. It wasn't an episode to be missed. In an uncharacteristically helpful move, I'm going to not spoil the episode for those who've recorded it and couldn't find an hour to watch it in, yet. Still, it set the stage for a great season finale (along with the final build-up to it). I think I'll try to do some Heroes drawings and post them here. You know...right after I get some work done on that webpage for my uncle.

He only asked me to do it back in February...

No, I haven't been slacking! You know I had that logo thing to do! ...Yeah, I could've worked on it whilst waiting for word on revisions to come back... Shut up!

...Ok, here's the thing. I've forgotten whatever else I was going to say. Probably wasn't that important, but still...it's been a couple days and I wanted to fill the space talking about stuff. Stuff I don't remember, now. So...I think I'll leave.

Bye.

Oh, wait...er...nevermind.

Great News...pbbbttt!

Just found out that NBC will not be airing The Black Donnelly's again. Soon or ever. Good thing, because we need more vapid shows like the waste of airtime that is Thank God You're Here.

Ok, that might've been a bit harsh. I didn't HATE the show, but other than the possibility of someone marginally famous making a fool of themself by not being funny (which is probably the funniest possible outcome), there isn't much to it more than a bunch of adults playing pretend. Wayne Knight, Seinfeld's nemesis Newman and Jurassic Park's thieving programmer Dennis Nedry, was good, but the others in the two episodes that aired were....meh. I mean, Bryan Cranston was fine until I realized that his whole bit was making out with everyone. Like Michael Scott's gun, how do you top a guy who makes out with everyone? And Mo'Nique, good grief...I totally lost respect for Dave Foley for picking her as the best in the second show...her entire comedy is based on being fat and, when that fails, black. OOOOOOH. Edie McClurg was at least able to rise above using the same crap that she rose to fame on (unless you count her appearance as a nice normal lady clashing with her behavior...but it's not like she's going to have plastic surgery just so she can escape THAT), but what the heck happened to Richard Kind and Kevin Nealon? Apparently, Nealon lost his ability to be amusing sometime after SNL, and Richard Kind...man...he failed, but in the least funny way possible. The first episode was vastly superior, and...well, that's pretty dang sad. Dave Foley, other than his award screw-up (which I suppose I could give him the benefit of the doubt and say was due to fear of Mo', since she could probably take him in a fight), was somewhat amusing in his brief parts, but more because he seemed to be laughing at himself for sinking to being a second-fiddle host on a show where the host isn't even on that much. The highlight for the whole thing had to be the audience. Not the whole audience, but the people that sat behind Dave Foley, because they didn't seem to be into it, either, which pleases me greatly. Before writing off the series entirely, I'll hang around long enough to see Angela Kinsey, who plays Angela on The Office. I don't know that she'll be any better, but she's on The Office. I watch things those people are on, such as when Rainn Wilson was on SNL.

Ugh.

Unfavorable Exchange Rate

I like the Black Donnellys. I mentioned it in the last post, but I really do enjoy it. Something about the characters who are sympathetic, in spite of being ill-tempered and not terribly wholesome folk, is interesting. It's like Payback, the '99 Mel Gibson remake of Point Blank. Porter was a bad guy. Technically, not a great guy in any sense, really. However, he was the one you cheered for since he was as "in the right" as anyone in a movie filled with organized crime, crooked cops and a bunch of people deserving defenestration can be.

I love that word.

Anyway...like I mentioned before, I missed the first half of the episode and thus the last half made sense in the way that anything can make sense when you come in late. Not much. Well, unless you factor in what you know about the characters already. Then, at least, you can guess what's going on to a degree. You still miss a lot, though. As such, we were finally able to watch the first half online. Last night. Sadly, we had better connectivity on Easter than we've had the entire preceding week and a half. This is particularly sad because the NBC was dragging like a dog with worms.

If you've seen it, you know what I mean.

So, an hour long episode, minus commercials (except the 14 second ads in between 10 minute segments), which shouldn't have taken more than about 45 minutes (I suddenly realize I have no idea how much time out of a normal hour is devoted to commercials....it's like I don't even know TV anymore...). An hour and a half later, we'd watched 3 and a half segments and I decided to call it since I had a vague memory of the rest of it from last Monday.

If it's not one thing, it's another.

100, 3.5, 1/2, 3, 36

100, 3.5
Well, it happened. Aaron's gotten sick for the first time. Apparently, he has an infection in both ears (how does that happen?) which has made him a little ball of unpleasantness. This is not to say that I've stopped enjoying his company. Just that it's a lot more work keeping him calm. He is, most assuredly, not enjoying himself. I'd checked his temperature before I left for work yesterday, but it wasn't until after work that he actually registered a temperature. 100 is a lot for a 3.5 month old. Of course, I worry about the accuracy of our little digital ear thermometer, but since you can't put a thermometer in a baby's mouth, I'm sure he appreciates this to the more traditional alternative.

1/2
Especially with Heroes gone...again, I've been enjoying the Black Donnelly's. However, I enjoyed it a great deal less last night. About 1/2 the enjoyment was had. This can be attributed to the fact that because of exhaustion, and going with Andria's suggestion that we turn off the tv for a bit before the show, I fell asleep about 20 minutes before it came on and missed half the show. In her defense, she actually intended to sleep. I just passed out. I plan on watching the first half online at home, but that's entirely dependent on our DSL NOT sucking, which it did most of yesterday. I get the feeling that CenturyTel was not entirely truthful when they said we could have DSL at our place.

Or they omitted the fact that we couldn't have it CONSISTENTLY.

3
I've been working on a logo for the children's ministry at my brother's church. What they've got me doing is nothing groundbreaking, but I've enjoyed it. Unfortunately, it's taxing the crap out of my laptop. It's newer than the desktop, but it really isn't appreciating the workload I'm putting on it with the file size. The thing is, I KNOW I could be doing it a different way with one of the other programs I use. I just don't know how to use that program very well and I'm not sure how to learn. Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, here are the 3 versions we've gone through thus far. Note how they're essentially the same with just slight changes. That's what's annoying. If I knew how to use that other program, it'd be 10 minutes of work. Instead, it's a week (given I have other things going on during that time as well).




36
I am, again, at the limits of my pants. As such, I will now endeavor to lose in the vicinity of 36 pounds over the next...however long it takes to get there. The time is entirely dependent on how much will power I have and how many of those wonderful, available only once a year, Cadbury Cream Eggs I ingest over the next couple weeks. I have to admit, losing that much will put me in a size smaller waist, but I can cinch up my belt. There's not a lot you can do when you've out distanced the waistband, though. Walking around with your pants open is socially frowned upon. I need to lose the weight for reasons beside that including, but not limited to:

1. When Aaron becomes mobile, I need to be able to keep up with him
2. I don't want to be an old, fat guy, and the old is coming whether I like it or not
3. The idea of being filmed from behind for a Dateline special on weight in America doesn't appeal to me.

The thing is, I'm not a diet and exercise guy. I can do a diet if need be, but exercise is something I don't even have time for. Unless you count carrying Aaron about, and it's getting warm enough that he doesn't really appreciate my added body warmth. I'll probably have to up the activity level a bit, but I'm not looking to be doing anything particularly spectacular. Maybe run the "Peach Festival" race in...whenever the Peach Festival is. July, perhaps. But I wouldn't count on it. I'm way more broken than I was last time I ran a race like that, and it wasn't like I was in great condition then. Mostly, I'm just afraid that I'll end up doubling the distance for all the times I have to go back and pick something up that fell off.

When it Rainns, it pours.

I mentioned in the past that I have, basically, two shows that I really care to see. First, by scheduling, is Heroes. Every week has been another pleasant surprise, as I keep expecting the Suck Bomb to drop.

I mean, hey, it is TV.

Anyway, the other show, which I've also mentioned, is The Office. Sure, it took me a couple episodes to get into it (those episodes are now much more funny now that I actually enjoy the show...odd), but now I really look forward to the new episodes. That's why I was interested when I heard that Rainn Wilson, Dwight, was hosting Saturday Night Live. He's been pretty good in everything else I've seen, Sahara, for one, but SNL has, how you might say, SUCKED in recent years, so I was a bit aprehensive, too.

Apparently, that was the old Spidey-sense tingling. Man, was it awful. Apparently, SNL doesn't have an equivalent of the "Friday Night Massacre" on Studio 60. Either that, or the idea that there was worse stuff that didn't make it on scares me.

Man, that show sucks.